Violence broke out at a community event on Saturday when Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church members swarmed the Te Atatū Community Centre to protest a children’s show hosted by a drag artist.
Violence broke out at a community event on Saturday when Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church members swarmed the Te Atatū Community Centre to protest a children’s show hosted by a drag artist.
An Auckland Council boss is blasting protesters and their church leader for verbal and physical attacks on youngsters and families caught up in a “violent and ugly situation” at a city library.
Chief executive Phil Wilson today condemned the weekend’s events in an opinion piece for Our Auckland, saying staff were targeted in Saturday’s protest both verbally and physically which was “not good enough and not acceptable”.
“Our people were attacked on Saturday. Verbally and physically. Children, young people and their families were caught up in a violent and ugly situation that was outrageous and unacceptable.
“As an organisation, we respect people’s right to free speech, protest and freedom of expression. Our libraries lead the charge on this. But when it turns violent and aggressive, when shouting drowns out other voices, and when people get hurt (children, for crying out loud!), it has gone too far.”
Destiny Church groups Man Up and Legacy Sisterhood protested against a children's library drag event at Te Atatū Community Centre on Saturday.
“In saying he is proud of the actions of his people, Bishop Tamaki is condoning violence and aggression towards our staff and the community and that is deplorable.”
Wilson was proud of the calm and professional way Saturday’s attack on a family-friendly event was dealt with by staff at Te Atatū Peninsula Library.
“And I’m proud of the decent members of our community who supported them.”
Staff confronted by violent protesters who barged past them to reach the science show were today “holding up” but remained shaken by the ordeal.
Waitākere ward councillor Shane Henderson said an impromptu event at the Te Atatū Peninsula Library took place this morning with about 100 people showing up in solidarity with the staff.
He said library staff working on the day were holding up “as well as they can be” but were “very upset” by Saturday’s attack.
“It was thuggish behaviour and they felt really physically intimidated, but they’re pulling through.
“They’re doing a fantastic job for our city, and we’re just so proud of them ... for standing up to what was wrong.”
Destiny Church members also held up Auckland's Rainbow Parade as they performed a haka on Saturday.
Henderson described the crowd as a “diverse mix of people” that he said represented how the Te Atatū community was feeling.
“We just shared stories and tried to lift the pain that the whole community is feeling.
“People shared their stories that we need to respond to [the protest] through showing people love and kindness.”
Attended a beautiful event in solidarity with our diverse community and our Te Atatu library workers this morning. We shared korero and uplifted the space from the ugly events of the weekend
On X, Henderson shared a photo of the crowd and said they “uplifted the space from the ugly events of the weekend”.
More events planned throughout the city’s pride month will go ahead unless the risk to public safety was “too high”, council’s community director Rachel Kelleher said.
“The council would only cancel an event if it was determined that risks could not be reasonably controlled,” she said.
Kelleher said council staff were on-site at Te Atatū to debrief and offer support to affected workers and volunteers.
During the protest, members of Destiny Church groups were denied entry into the ticketed event at the Te Atatū Community Centre and then bowled past council staff and event organisers.
Brian Tamaki said he told a leader of his Destiny Church groups Man Up and Legacy Sisterhood to storm a community centre where the event was happening.
Earlier, Tamaki told the Herald that Man Up was forced to step up and take peaceful action with the Government refusing to “address the excessive spending on borderline pornography and perversion targeting our innocent Kiwi kids”.
The event was a children’s science show hosted by a popular Auckland drag artist. Auckland Council cancelled a second show slated for later that afternoon due to fears of more protest action.
Hours later, the same groups broke through police barricades at the Auckland Rainbow Parade on Ponsonby Rd, blocking the parade as they performed a haka. As police dispersed them, they danced and swaggered away, smiling and waving to an unimpressed crowd.
Acting Waitematā District Commander Inspector Simon Walker said police strongly condemned the actions of the group and said “the protest crossed the line”.
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